For a few brief seconds during Sunday's AFC Championship game, Tennessee Titans fan Matthew Brown managed to confuse the whole country.

Midway through the first quarter of Sunday's game in Baltimore, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson broke free for a 21-yard gain on fourth-and-1 to cross into Kansas City Chiefs territory for the first time. The CBS camera crew cut to the bleachers for crowd reactions, but quizzically focused in on Brown, a Nashville native proudly wearing a Derrick Henry Titans jersey in enemy territory.

Brown had no idea he was on camera, but within seconds his phone started buzzing with texts, phone calls and FaceTimes from friends and family.

"The way the camera goes, it kind of zooms in on me," Brown told The Tennessean. "I guess they were freaking out a little bit like, ‘Hey, that’s a Titans jersey. What the heck?’ "

Brown moved to Washington, D.C., after graduating from the University of Tennessee, but this was his first time going to a Ravens game. He and his girlfriend, Mary Liza, had gotten tickets through her sister. Funny enough, Mary Liza was making a beer run when the camera caught Brown, leaving him looking even more isolated in his Titans fandom.

People Brown hadn't heard from in five or six years reached out. Taylor Lewan posted about him on X, the platform formerly called Twitter.

Titans fans all across social media have adopted Brown as something of a cult figure.

"The funniest thing that everyone thinks is so hilarious is I’ve seen some pictures online where people have gray-scaled the background, like, everyone else, and then highlighted me to where they’ll be like, ‘This is the hero,’ " Brown said. "I was just sitting there watching the game and people are doing Photoshops on it."

The Titans got in on the fun themselves, posting video of Brown's moment to TikTok with the caption "a real one" and a call to action of "Help us find this man," garnering nearly 100,000 likes and more than one million views. Brown sent the Titans a direct message Tuesday with some proof that he was, in fact, the real one in question. Then the Titans asked for Brown's address and shirt size, leading Brown to expect a care package is coming soon.

Brown is no stranger to repping Tennessee sports brands in and around the nation's capital. He says he also has worn Nashville Predators jerseys to Washington Capitals games and Memphis Grizzlies jerseys to Washington Wizards games. Sometimes during football season he'll attend Titans watch parties at Lou's City Bar in D.C. with about 30 other transplants. He usually wears his Henry jersey, but on special occasions he'll break out his throwback: a Carl Pickens jersey to commemorate the year the Vols All-American receiver spent with the Titans at the tail end of his career in 2000.

He loves the feeling of meeting strangers who hit him with a "Titan Up" or "Go Preds" so far from home. That's why he says his lesson from Sunday's experience is to always rep your team. You never know when you'll be noticed.

"I know some people might think it’s kind of (unlikable) to do, but it’s just fun to wear your team’s jersey when you’re going to a random game. You can always meet random people that support the team as well," Brown said.

"And then, you never know, you might get on TV. You’re in a faraway land over in Maryland but you’ve got everyone back in Nashville excited to see you wearing their team’s jersey."

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans fan goes viral with Derrick Henry jersey at AFC game